PETA Warns Animals Will Die If Left Outside in Freezing Weather: Please Share Urgent Survival Tips

For Immediate Release:
November 13, 2026

Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382

With the National Weather Service warning of freezing temperatures in the coming days, dogs, cats, and other animals could suffer from hypothermia, frostbite, or even die if left outside. PETA urges everyone to take steps to keep animals safe during the cold weather and reminds the public that leaving dogs to suffer in freezing temperatures could result in cruelty-to-animals charges.

PETA fieldworkers have routinely found dead and dying dogs still chained or confined to their outdoor pens, including in North Carolina.Dogs and cats are at serious risk of frostbite and hypothermia, and short-haired dogs, including pit bulls, are particularly vulnerable because their coats offer little protection against the cold. Dogs who are kept tethered can become tangled and die when they’re unable to reach food, unfrozen water, or properly insulated shelter. Video of dogs PETA’s fieldworkers have found shivering and suffering outdoors with little protection from the bitter cold can be seen here. The following steps can help save animals’ lives during cold weather.

• Bring them indoors: Winter conditions can be deadly for dogs who are kept chained and penned outside and cats left outdoors, who often go without adequate food, water, shelter, or veterinary care. During the 2025–2026 winter season alone, at least 93 dogs and cats died from cold-weather-related causes—and those are just the cases that were reported. Most aren’t. 
• Gear up: Coats can help keep dogs comfortable for short periods in cold weather (just be sure to remove wet jackets the moment dogs return home), secure harnesses can help prevent them from getting loose on walks, and booties will protect their sensitive paw pads from the frozen ground. Keep walks short in cold weather, especially for short-haired dogs.
• Don’t forget wildlife: During extreme winter weather, you can provide birds, squirrels, and other wild animals with access to an emergency water supply by filling a heavy, non-metal water bowl (tongues can freeze to metal) and breaking the surface ice at least twice a day.

Good Samaritans who see dogs kept chained or penned outside 24/7 or without adequate shelter from the elements should note the animals’ exact location and alert local law enforcement authorities immediately. Anyone who leaves animals outside to suffer in severe weather may be prosecuted.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.